Well, like everyone else, I agree with much of what has been said but of course, as humans, we can't leave it at that and have to put our own 2 cents in :) You need to figure out a few things about your debt. Is it a matter of you currently have 35k debt that you need to pay off and you aren't adding anything to that debt? If so, then that is great! Work on ways to save every penny you can from your monthly budget to put towards debt. If you are still adding to the debt, you need to figure out why. Have you been paying for your kid's education or any of their bills? Like someone said earlier, if this is the case, they need to pay those things themselves. If they can't get a student loan, then they can cut back on their school hours, find a job full time, and pay their way through. They can also learn to take own their own insurance and phone bills if they don't already. And, if you still can't get your head above water, tell them that they will need to start pitching in on the food budget, or even pay you rent if they wish to live at home. Some may say that is harsh, but what is the best way to prepare a child to grow up and be apart of the real world? The parent pay for everything and bail them out of every problem, then suddenly graduate college and realize they don't know how to budget their own money and end up getting stuck with debt problems or unable to save for anything they want? Or having them pay for the things they want and need while under the protection and guidance of their parents so that when they graduate and/or get married and start their own family, they know how to budget and save money. So this could be a major thing to look at. You obviously don't want to just kick your kids away and make them think you don't love them, but if they aren't responsible for their own things, you need to start holding them responsible for them. Also look at other things you could save on. If you have Cable or Dish, perhaps drop them. Most shows can now be watched online, even if it means going to youtube and seeing if anyone put it up. Perhaps revise the food budget? That's one thing my husband and I have really been working on. I have cut ours in half! I am unsure of your living conditions or what type of disease you have, but if you are able to, perhaps there are things you could do for a little extra money. Clean the homes of family and friends? Host a garage sale and have all the profit go towards your debt? Are there crafts you can sell (they usually don't bring much money in, but every little bit can help). Perhaps you have a skill or talent you can train people in? If you can find something you can do that will create extra income, do it and discipline yourself that all of that extra income will go towards your debt and can't be spent elsewhere. If you haven't already, check out various sites about cutting the budget and frugal living and as you apply those tips, use the money saved toward debt. I have 2 things left to say. The first is a tip I read about paying off debt. Write down all the various debts you owe. (To whom, who much the debt for each is, and their minimum payment). Next, order them from smallest debt to the largest. Each month, pay the minimum towards each debt, but for the smallest debt, the one listed on the top of your list, pay more. I'll give an example on a small scale. We'll say you owe $ to 3 creditors. Vista debt: 300 Min: 20 American Express debt: 1000 Min: 50 Master Card debt: 2500 Min: 100 So, you pay the 50 and the 100 to AE and MC, but for Vista, we'll say you managed to get enough extra income to pay 100 a month on it. So, for the next 3 months you get it paid off (Note, I am not calculating interest, it is not needed to get the basic concept of this). Once you paid off that Vista, that gives you $100 extra each month that you can then apply to the AE card. So, rather than paying the min 50, you are able to put 150 towards it. Once the AE is paid off, you now have 150 extra in the budget so you add that to the minimum payment you were paying on the MC which means you'll be paying 250 on it each month. With this method, you can quickly pay off debt and reduce the number of creditors you are paying because rather than spending forever trying to pay off the largest amount, or slowly paying off all at the same time, little by little, you free up money as you finish paying off creditors so you can apply more to other debt. I hope that tip helps. The last thing I have to say is short. If you already have bad credit, do not fret about it. You don't want to do anything stupid, obviously, but do not fret about past mistakes. After 7 years, bad records are taken off your credit record. I could be wrong on the 7, it may be slightly more or less, but I believe it is 7 years. I know for bankruptcies, it is 10 years before it is taken off. (But please don't go bankrupt if avoidable because we, the tax payers, as well as yourself assuming you work and pay taxes, end up paying for it through our taxes). I hope the advise I gave was helpful.

I was in terrible, about $30 K spread through five credit cards. Pay off the store cards first, because they have the highest interest rates, 22% or more. Then try to combine the remaining cards (visa and master) onto one card,check into credit union loans for debt consolidation, as a last resort use cash advances. Once you have all the debt tramsferred onto one card, decide how long you want to allow to repay the total. I got my debt down to $7000, and I paid it off at $500 per month. It took almost two years, but I was able to slowly climb out of the hole on my own. And, yes, I also cut up all my credit cards. You absolutely cannot keep adding to your debt. This year I got brave and I checked my credit score. I was satisfied that it was decent. And I have promised myself never,never,never, fall into the debt habit. If I really need something, like a car repair, I pay cash. Other than that,credit and debit cards are off-limits for me. I am fortunate that during this time, I had a good-paying job. I have a 17-year old daughter in high school who had jobs only the last two summers. She gets lots of credit card offers in the mail. I throw them out before she ever sees them. I had a friend whose son went away to college, took ski trips and lavished his family with expensive Christmas gifts. No one knew where he got the money. He graduated college with a $20,000 credit card bill.

Definitely check out the forums at myfico.com. There are tons of experts and people who are going through the same exact situation as you who will help with warnings, tips, sample letters to creditors, etc. There are a lot of debt consolidation scams and more cropping up every minute. I would not trust a credit counselor or financial advisor who wasn't registered with the state or SEC. More than likely this debt "counselor" your DH talked to will take your $900 and walk away. They get paid $900 even if they spend 0 minutes on your case. You would have no idea, and all they have to say is "Sorry, we weren't able to convince your creditors to budge, thanks for the $900." If anything I would do a search for a nearby Certified Financial Planner at http://www.cfp.com. Nearly every one of them will do a free sit-down interview with you to discuss your needs and give you an estimate of what they would charge to help you (and how they would help you). They take an oath, have an ethical standards board and take exams and continuing education so you can be more certain that they will not scam you out of your money.

if YOU pull your credit it does not count against you. If you apply for a credit card or a loan and THEY pull it, then it does count against you, though only slightly. your free credit reports do not give you the credit score, they list everything on your credit except the score. you have to pay about 9 bucks or so for the score. the link below is for access to your report from all 3 agencies. you can pull all 3 now, or 1 at a time over the next year. you are only allowed 1 report from each agency per year. Here is a link that might be useful: Free credit reports with no card required